


Strange Bedfellows

by creatureofhobbit



Category: Batwoman (TV 2019)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-11
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-17 04:42:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29344557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/creatureofhobbit/pseuds/creatureofhobbit
Summary: When Alice claims to have reason to believe Kate is still alive, Luke debates working with her to bring her home. Mary thinks it's a crazy idea.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 4





	Strange Bedfellows

If anyone had asked Luke a few weeks ago if he’d ever consider teaming up with Alice, he’d have told them they were crazy. Hell, he’d probably have been the one calling Arkham to that person himself. But as Alice comes to him with the necklace, tells him Safiyah shouldn’t have had this in her possession if she really had been responsible for the plane explosion, and says she believes Kate’s still alive and she thinks they can work together to find her, Luke finds himself seriously considering it.

Every time Luke looks at Ryan Wilder in the suit that had been made for Kate, even though he’d agreed to her acting as Batwoman until Kate returned, a part of him still wants to rip it from her, to yell that it’s not hers to wear but Kate’s. Gotham needs Kate Kane, not someone who’s probably socialised with half the people they’re trying to bring down. Even as Mary tries to say she’s accepted that Kate’s gone, that she thinks that Kate would have found some means of communicating with them if she really was out there somewhere, a part of Luke still can’t bring himself to let go of the hope that Kate can be brought back.

Mary thinks he’s crazy for even thinking about working with Alice, which he can understand on one level. But it’s Kate, it’s her stepsister, and honestly another part of Luke is struggling to understand why Mary isn’t jumping at the chance to get her back.

Maybe Mary’s right and the whole thing is just a big bust. But at the same time, Luke knows that Kate would have done anything to get him back if it had been him who was missing, and he doesn’t feel he can ignore any possible lead that might bring about her safe return, just because of his feelings towards the person providing said lead.

Maybe he should be calling Arkham on himself. Because he thinks he’s actually going to at least hear Alice out.

Luke just doesn’t understand.

Of course Mary would love it if there was any real chance that Kate was alive and was able to take up the role of Batwoman again. But this, joining forces with Alice…it wasn’t the way to go about it. This was Alice. How can Luke expect Mary to be okay with teaming up with this woman?

He knows Mary has always hated her, hated her from the moment she found out that Alice was the real Beth Kane, had seen Kate’s initial attempts to bond with Alice in a way that it had taken her several years to do with Mary. And he knows Mary can never forgive Alice for having poisoned Catherine; whatever Catherine may have done, and Mary could never condone her attempts to fake the discovery of Beth’s body, she hadn’t deserved to die the way she had at Alice’s hands. Every time Mary looks at Alice, she sees Catherine, thinks about how Alice has taken her mother away from her, and Mary has to admit, she would have expected Luke to have shown more understanding of that and not suggested that Mary become involved with any plan of Alice’s. Would Luke have ever joined forces with Robles?

And she can’t trust the woman; for all Mary knows, the whole thing with Kate allegedly being alive could so easily be some stunt on Alice’s part, even on Safiyah’s. She’d need some harder evidence than the word of Alice before she felt she could be sure that Kate could be found, and even then she didn’t feel that she and Alice could ever work together. Luke says that Sophie’s on board with the idea, and that even if Mary can’t trust Alice she can trust her, but even then Mary’s still not convinced. Frankly, she doesn’t understand why Sophie is even taking this seriously; Sophie knows Alice’s history as well as Mary does. And Mary doesn’t know Safiyah, doesn’t know exactly what her history with Alice is; Safiyah could be playing Alice for some reason of her own, and Mary doesn’t want to get caught up in whatever that is.

And even supposing Alice did have credible reason to believe Kate was alive, Mary knew well enough that her motives for looking into it were hardly likely to have anything to do with a genuine desire to reconcile with her sister and bring her home. She’d killed Mouse, for God’s sake, the one person Alice had ever considered a close friend, did Luke honestly think there was any chance that if Alice did successfully locate Kate she would leave her alive?

She’s put that point to Luke, and Luke’s suggested that maybe there’s another way, that maybe they can cooperate with Alice just long enough to find out what her intel is, verify it independently, and then rescue Kate without involving her any further. Mary wishes she could go along with that, but the fact remains that much as she understands Luke’s need to believe that Kate is still out there, she cannot even trust Alice that much. 

Ryan understands it; Mary hears the way she talks about Alice, her desire for revenge for the killing of her mother, and has to admit she can relate, feels like in some way Ryan gets her feelings towards Alice better than Kate ever could. But the whole issue of Ryan losing her role as Batwoman if Kate returns, and knowing how much Ryan needs this in her life right now, means Mary doesn’t feel she can have this conversation with her.

Ultimately it’s up to Luke how far he does actually hear Alice out, and Mary knows that however much she may hate the idea of any kind of collaboration with her, she can’t actually stop Luke, and she can’t work with Alice herself, especially on something she still has doubts regarding its veracity.

Yet a part of her can’t help wondering, if it turns out Alice’s intel is good and leads to Kate being returned to them, whether Kate will understand Mary’s reasons for struggling to work with her.


End file.
